Yeast starter for lagers

In John Palmers books he talked about making big yeast starters for lagers. He says "A good way to do this is to pitch the yeast into a pint of wort at 60 °F, let that ferment for a day, cool it 5 degrees to 55°F and add another pint of aerated, cool wort. Let this also ferment for a day, and cool and pitch a third and even fourth time until you have built up 2 quarts or more of yeast starter that is comfortable at 45 -55 °F."

Who has done this, and why wouldn't letting the yeast counter ferment, add more wort let it ferment over night add more wort until you have 2L, then Cool to 55 over night decant then pitch once your wort has cooled to 45 degrees?


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You appear to be reading the older version of How to Brew. You can do it in single step if you have room and that will get you the count you want, or step it up according to a calculator. I like this one.

The rule of thumb is pitch double what you would for a ale of the same gravity...for example if you have a ale @ 1050 a 2 liter starter will be fine so if you have a 1050 lager you are looking at 4 liter starter

Agree, I do it in one step. As big as you can make the starter.

But I find the best lager starter is another lager. Pitching a large part of a cake to bock+ strength lagers is the way to go. Plus you get to enjoy 2 lagers, a lower gravity one and a higher gravity one.

+1 on making a smaller lager first and reusing the cake..that is the best bet for making great lagers

Ive done 3 lagers, and only one did I pitch adequately. My last lager, a Vienna, I thought I make a big enough starter and it was still under attenuated. My next attempt is only going to be 5 gal, and I am going to make 2 separate starters on each of my stir plates, and pitch both at the same time. Its disappointing to take a gravity reading and not hitting the FG you expected